Updated Numbers According to the Latest Polls Obama Now Leads McCain in FL, PA, & OH…

June 18, 2008

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Over the past few days there has been a string of news worthy happenings directly involved with the coveted electoral “swing states,” who serve to play a crucial role in the upcoming presidential election. Here is some “hot off the press” polling coming out of the infamous “battleground states” - New polling from Quinnipiac and the American Research Group spells out bad news for John McCain, with him trailing in all three of the largest swing states –and yes, it even includes Florida, a supposed “McCain stronghold.”

Here are the specific polls that show Barack Obama leading John McCain in three of the most sought after “swing states” up for grabs:

Florida:

Obama (D) 47% (+4)
McCain (R) 43%
Margin of error: ¬±2.6%

Ohio:

Obama (D) 48% (+6)
McCain (R) 42%
Margin of error: ¬±2.6%

Pennsylvania:

Obama (D) 52% (+12)
McCain (R) 40%
Margin of error: ¬±2.5%

Here is another, “just released” poll concerning the state of Florida. This one was released a couple hours ago and was conducted by the American Research Group. Its findings mirror that of Quinnipiac’s listed above. All I can say is wow - I expected Florida too tighten up, but I didn’t expect Obama to jump into the lead this early in the general election.

American Research Group: Florida (600 Likely voters, conducted between June 13th-17th)

(D) Barack Obama: 49% (+5)
(R) John McCain: 44%

The most newsworthy aspect of these polls, and the story in general, is that for the first time in this election cycle Barack Obama has a lead, of any size, over John McCain in Florida. Obama instead was having quite a bit of trouble connecting with Florida voters due to the controversy surrounding the Democratic primary, which saw a bitter divide over the seating of the states delegates. However numbers such as the ones above show that he’s making up ground - and doing so fast.

Of course one has to realize that Florida is in fact very much a “toss up state”, one which has a incredibly popular Governor Charlie Crist, acting as one of John McCain’s most vocal surrogates, as well as a front runner for the GOP Vice Presidential slot.

That said, these polls do show that it is possible for Barack Obama too make up ground in states that he failed to win during the primaries, states that many talking heads proclaimed “unwinable” for Obama when framing their arguments of why Hillary Clinton would be a more electable candidate.

Looks like they were wrong - well, for now at least.